The Plain Girl (work in progress)
by NAPPA
Summary: AU. 4th year. Harry is torn between asking Cho... the girl that he "loves" and Hemrione the girl that stood by him when no one else would believe that he did not put his name in the Goblet. Who will he choose. H/Hr. Please Review. (*draft*)


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Title: The Plain Girl (working title)

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Author: NAPPA

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Special Mentions: Shades of Grey: This was my idea and after talking with him I was adamant that I should write this fic **&** Lonewolf: Hey MAX!! This one goes to you as a Valentines day gift. (No that way!!) You asked for something nice in Harry/Hermione world for the coming valentines... here it is.

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Chapter One: The Question

" Urg! What am I supposed to do?" said Harry out loud, as he rubbed his temples furiously.

He was in a bind and he had no one to ask help from. Sure he could ask him best friend Ron, but he'd be just laughed at. He couldn't ask his other best friend Hermione, since his problem involved her. He could and almost asked his Godfather's help, but he was afraid that Sirius would not be so serious about it. " Ugh! Why isn't there something that'll make my decisions for me?" this time his voice was louder than before.

" Harry, is that you?" asked a feminine voice.

Harry turned quickly from his seat in front of the roaring fire to where he heard the voice. His eyes recognised the shape in dim light from the fireplace. He could tell who it was since, in all his life he had ever only one head like that. One head covered in bushy brown hair. It was Hermione Granger. She would be the first one to admit that she was not that pretty or for that matter, much of a "girl". She was of that gender, but she behaved very unlike most of them. She was extremely smart, better than all the boys. She was not into Quidditch. Though that in itself was not much, she wasn't even a little bit interested about the fic to think 

Harry sighed and answered, " Yes". But he said nothing more.

Hermione moved quickly towards the couch. She took one look at Harry's face in the light of the fire and what she saw confirmed her suspicions about what she heard in his voice. She knew that Harry was not going to open up. If he was going to, then she would have had picked it up in his voice. She knew that he could be stubborn, but she could be even more. She just didn't behave like that in front of him. Hermione slowly sat down on the carpet, with her back to the fire. It served two purposes. One was that he back was always aching at that time of the night. It seemed to go away only if she came to the fire and warmed up. The other one was something that she had realised that she did often. It was something she did not want Harry to realise. She sat her back to the fire, so that Harry would not be able to see the expression on her face.

Ever since Rita Skeeter's article in Daily Prophet, she had realised something that even she did not know before. She had a massive crush on Harry. She didn't know exactly when or how it had happened, but it had. She knew that she had no chance. She knew, Harry liked Cho Chang. She had known it from her third year, when she had first caught him looking at her. It didn't mean much then, but after Rita Skeeter's article, it did. It did a lot. Every time after that, whenever she had seen him look at her like that, her heart broke a bit more. " You sure you're ok?" she asked, unable to hide her concern.

" Yes.... It's just that... " He almost told her, but he caught himself, " Nothing."

" If you say so." She replied, clearly not believing. She shifted a bit.

" So..."

Silence

" So..."

Silence

It was beginning to get awkward, when, Harry realised what he had to do. It was in front of him all the time. He just didn't even see it. Harry quickly jumped off the floor and slid to where Hermione was. It was so simple he didn't know why he hadn't thought about it. He was horrified at his own stupidity. * How did I ever get past the dragon?* thought Harry.

Hermione was very surprised at how fast Harry had moved. * No wonder he's the seeker* she thought.

" Hermione?" he asked.

" Hmm" she was still examining his features.

His emerald green eyes caught some light from the fire and looked as though were burning. It radiated out and sending a warm glow through her that made her feel very safe.

" Is...I mean...Can I ask you something?" his stuttery voice did not reflect how truly scared he was to ask he the question.

" What is it?" she panicked. It was not like Harry to become like this. He was the bravest person she knew. For him to act like this was totally out of character and it scared her. Not for herself but for him. Harry would die before he made others worry about him. " Did something bad happen? Was it nightmare? Did you have a fight with Ron again? Is it about Snuffles?..." she would have had continued with more, had Harry not put his finger on her mouth. 

" Shh, that's not it." Whatever hesitation and fear, Harry had felt before, had disappeared. Just from how concern Hermione was about him, he realised he had made the right decision. Maybe not the person he really wanted to ask, but certainly someone he would enjoy the time with. " I just wanted to ask you, if you'd..."

**More coming soon.... you'll see why and how he gets very Very confused **


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